1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept generally relates to a management apparatus and a method of managing a device driver of the management apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image forming apparatus includes various types of devices such as a copier, a printer, a fax machine, a scanner, a multifunction peripheral (MFP), etc. Here, the MFP performs a plurality of functions among copying, printing, scanning, fax sending and/or receiving, e-mail sending and/or receiving, and file sending and/or receiving functions.
A device driver and an application are installed in a computer which is connected to the image forming apparatus through a wired and/or wireless network or a universal serial bus (USB) interface to control the image forming apparatus or perform at least one of functions supported by the image forming apparatus. Also, a solution is installed in a management apparatus to manage the image forming apparatus and the computer.
The device driver is software which is to control the image forming apparatus, and may, for example, include a printer driver, a scanner driver, a fax driver, or the like.
The application is software necessary for using the image forming apparatus, e.g., may include a smart panel, a smarthru, a SetIP Utility, a personal computer (PC) fax utility, a direct printing utility, a scan manager, or the like. In other words, the application variously exists according to manufacturing companies or use purposes of the image forming apparatus.
The solution is installed in a server which is connected to the image forming apparatus and/or the computer in a wired and/or wireless network environment and is software which is to control and/or manage the connected image forming apparatus and/or computer. In other words, the solution variously exists according to manufacturing companies or use purposes of the image forming apparatus.
The device driver and the application variously exist according to a performance of the image forming apparatus, a function supported by the image forming apparatus, an operating system (OS) of the computer, or a performance of the computer.
Various types of device drivers, applications, or solutions have been developed due to high-quality specifications and diversities of image forming apparatus and computers. These device drivers, applications, or solutions are to be installed in computers or management apparatuses. A manufacturing company is to develop various types of device drivers, applications, or solutions, and a user or an administrator is to install the device drivers, applications, or solutions in a computer or a management apparatus to use an image forming apparatus. The number of installations and the number of upgrades of device drivers, applications, or solutions increase in proportion to the number of image forming apparatuses and the number of computers or management apparatuses.